The Grumman F4F Wildcat is an American carrier-based fighter aircraft that entered service in 1940 with the United States Navy, and the British Royal Navy where it was initially known as the Martlet. [2]

Dec 4, 2021 · Before it was called the Wildcat after wartime recoignition usage, the Grumman F4F was only the fourth iteration in a process of designing the world’s best naval fighters, at least from the US perspective. Before the F4F, the frontline naval fighter of …

The F4F-4 was the first version of the Wildcat to feature a Grumman innovation, the Sto-Wing. The Sto-Wing used a novel approach using a compound angle folding-wing that was unique to Grumman. Leroy Grumman developed the idea by experimenting with a …

Jan 22, 2021 · The cigar-chomping, tough-as-nails American ace with 26 kills in World War II gunned his Grumman F4F Wildcat into action and ordered his pilots to use the overcast conditions to their...

Jun 12, 2006 · While the newer Vought F4U Corsairs and F6F Hellcats grabbed the spotlight, it was the Wildcat that served as the U.S. Navy’s front-line fighter throughout the early World War II crises of 1942 and early 1943. The Wildcat is unique among World War II aircraft in that it was originally conceived as a biplane.

Jan 14, 2013 · The US Navy’s first folding Wildcat was Twin Wasp-engined F4F-4, Grumman building one thousand three hundred and eighty-nine, including two hundred and twenty F4F-4Bs with Cyclone engines as Martlet IVs for the fleet Air Arm.

The F4F-4 was the first Wildcat to feature a Grumman folding-wing innovation known as the “Sto-Wing.” Most folding-wing naval aircraft of the time were able to fold their wings via a simple hinge point outboard of the landing gear.

Oct 2, 2019 · The Grumman F4F Wildcat was a fighter used by the US Navy during the early years of World War II. Entering service in 1940, the aircraft first saw combat with the Royal Navy which used the type under the name Martlet.

May 28, 2020 · With an urgent need to concentrate on development and production of the more advanced F6F Hellcat, Grumman negotiated with General Motors to continue production of the F4F-4 Wildcat under the designation FM-1.

Grumman built a design which, after several re-designations and airframe modifications, won the contract and eventually became the F4F Wildcat. The prototype, the XF4F-2 , first flew on 2 September 1937.